Editorial November 2009

by Jan Scholten

The swine flu has been more than half a year present in the world and is often very prominent in the news. There is a striking element in the discussion that has to do with power. It is about who decides what will happen: who is in charge, who is the boss.
The question of who is the boss shows up in many aspects. In the political aspect there is the urge of governments to make vaccination mandatory, to force people to take the vaccination. In the social field there is the pressure to comply to the vaccination. People who refuse the vaccination are often depicted as irresponsible, a danger for society. Sometimes there is even the idea that parents who refuse the vaccination for their children should be put out of their parental power. Science responds to that pressure. With aspect to the body, there is the question who is the boss: the immune system or the vaccine, the body or the outside substances in the vaccine. Is the body and person allowed to follow his own course or not.

This theme of power and self determination is a central theme in the familiy of Asteraceae, formerly called compositae. This family has influenza and other diseases with high fevers like measles as a very strong part in their picture. Eupatorium is one of them and very well known for influenza. It had great positive effects in the Spanish influenza of 1918.
The Asteraceae have as a central theme self determination, a desire to live one's own life and being able to fulfill one's own task in this life. They can be disturbed and get diseases when their integrity is not respected, when their bodily whole is invaded, for instance by injuries, wounds, vaccinations and operations. Vaccinations are an intrusion that can bring the system out of balance and bring the immune system disorder.
It is known by general practitioners that children, most of the time, were much better and stronger after having had the measles. They were more self-reliant. In the Asteraceae there is the theme that during a high fever they find their own goal, their own way to be fulfilled in life.
It is typical in the epidemic of this influenza that especially children are severely affected. One reason can be that they haven't had contact with a similar influenza type, which adults have been confronted with in their life. Another explanation can be that the children of this time have been heavily vaccinated and that their immune system is in such disorder that it cannot adapt easily to new stresses. If this last factor is working, it can easily be tested. It can be done by looking at the vaccination status of children hospitalized for this influenza and see if the percentage vaccinated and non vaccinated children is the same as in the general population.
The interesting thing is that the theme of influenza, being your own boss or not, is so beautifully expressed in how society, politics and people react to it.